Big Boys Toys – and it was a work day!

Last week, Thursday 23rd September, I went to the UKWA Midlands Networking event at JCB.

There were presentation from Paul Brooks, Roger Williams, Richard Davies as well as representatives from JCB.

The event was extremely well attended and we were made welcome in the JCB VIP centre. Presentations we delivered at their plush auditorium and then lunch was served in their restaurant.

During lunch I was seated with guys from Luxonic Lighting, Ben Wilson from Briggs Equipment and Neil Storey from Onward Holdings. Conversation was good; we spoke about lighting options and how Onward Holdings were experimenting with several options, we also spoke about a website idea for the warehousing industry (but conversations are still on-going on that so can’t really say more!).

The Best for Last…

Whilst the presentations were informative, lunch was delightful and the company great the ‘coup d'état’ was the factory tour.

I’d love to have been able to take some pictures but unfortunately cameras were not allowed… the basic tour involved a walkabout seeing how a JCB Backhoe loader was built (from the sheet metal up).

The JCB Backhoe Loader

Logistics on the factory floor was extremely good with all parts being recorded against the vehicle they would eventually be part of.

As I’m based in an office describing the factory floor environment is hard; extremely heavy parts, very loud machines and flashes of welding tools all came together on the final line to compile a bright yellow JCB Backhoe loader… very cool.

Thanks again to the UKWA, CILT and JCB for delivering a great event and the guys at my table for lunch for a lively conversation.